


Take It Easy, Nonbinary Pal

by blue_wind_gets_so_sad



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Squip, Gen, Nonbinary Jeremy Heere, Swearing, They're all friends, Trans Michael Mell, Violence, anxiety attack, but they're freshmen i swear, deadnaming, first chapter is based off of personal experience while the rest aren't, for example rich looks like his jock-ish self instead of a lil invisible nerd, gender neutral pronouns for jeremy, it isn't actually him it's just his videos, jeremy's mother's name is veronica but this has no affiliation with heathers, pronoun misusage, song in end notes, they all look like they do in canon, they're freshmen, thomas sanders - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-14
Updated: 2018-04-14
Packaged: 2019-04-22 20:30:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14316594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blue_wind_gets_so_sad/pseuds/blue_wind_gets_so_sad
Summary: “Hey, mom?”“Yeah?”“A little update on Michelle. He’s trans and his name is Michael.”





	1. Girliest Girl

“Hey, mom?”

                “Yeah?”

                “A little update on Michelle. He’s trans and his name is Michael.”

                The woman scoffed and shook her head, smiling. “Trans? Like, transsexual or transvestite?”

                Jeremy gulped. “Transgender.”

                Their mother’s smile faded. “Oh.” She returned her attention to the TV before turning her attention back to her _child_ a few seconds later. “Are you sure? I mean, she just seems so wishy-washy all the time. First, she was bi, then she was full-on straight, and now she’s a boy? Do you think she’s…all there?” She pointed to her head.

                Jeremy couldn’t believe it. Their mother just kept getting less accepting every time they talked about something like this.

                “I know you’re her friend and everything, but do you honestly think she’s telling the truth? She might be just going with the flow and calling herself whatever is ‘hip.’”

                Jeremy’s throat felt dry. “I think he’s just figuring himself out.”

                “Oh, so we’re calling her ‘he?’”

                “…Yeah.”

                “So, when did she come to this conclusion?”

                “A couple of days ago.”

                “So, it just happened.”

                “W-Well, he’s been talking to me about it for a while now and we’ve been doing research, but he just figured it out.”     

                Mrs. Heere squinted. _Shit_. “Is this where you’re about to tell me that you’re transgender, too? You look suspicious over there. Do you have something to tell me, Janelle?”

                “O-Oh! No.” _Shit, shit, shit._

                “Are you gay? Are you bi? Transgender? Transvestite? What’s your ‘label?’ Are you _binary_? Are you asexual? Do you feel like you should’ve been born a boy? ‘Cause I gave birth to you and I can tell you right now that you weren’t supposed to be born a boy. You were the girliest girl up until now.”

                That hit them hard. “No, I-I’m straight.”

                “Are you sure?”

                “Yeah, I’m sure.” Their heartbeat began to increase and they knew they needed to leave. “Hey, uh, I’m going to go ahead and go to bed.”

                “Are you mad I said something about Michelle?”

                “No. I’m just tired. Worked a lot at school today.”

                “Ah, well, goodnight.”

                “Goodnight.” Jeremy casually retreated to their room, adding in a loud yawn. Once they locked their bedroom door, they covered their mouth with their hand. They wanted to vomit. They wanted to cry. They wanted to scream. They wanted to punch things. However, they just stood there with their hand over their mouth. Slowly, they moved away from the door on shaky legs. They stood in the middle of their room, pacing back and forth.

 _“Gay? Bi? Transgender? Label. Binary? Label. Asexual? Born a boy? You weren’t supposed to be born a boy. Girliest girl. Janelle. Janelle. Janelle. Label. Boy. Girl. Girl. Girl. Girl. Girl. Janelle. Girl. Girl. Janelle. Janelle. Janelle.”_ They put their hands over their ears and dug their fingernails into the back of their head.

                “Please, make it stop.” They whispered.

                “ _Binary. Girl. Girl. Girl. Girl. Janelle. Girl. Binary. Girl. Janelle.”_

“Stop it!” They croaked.

                “ _Girl. Girl. Girl. Girl. Girl. Girl._ ”

                “Gah!” They uncovered their ears and took off the baggy pants and the oversized hoodie that was making them overheat. They stood there in their boy shorts (they really wanted boxers, but this was as close as they could get without their mother getting suspicious), trying not to look down at their bare chest. That didn’t work. They took one glance down and their heart kicked into overdrive. The only thing they could hear was their heart racing and the only thing they could feel were their lungs burning for air. Shakily, they turned their lamp off and crashed into their bed, gasping for breaths. The thoughts had finally gone away, but that didn’t really help. They were still unable to breathe. They noticed their sequined pillow on the bed beside them and they tried to put it in their lap, but it would always hit their breasts. They eventually propped the soft side up against them, the sequined side facing out. They ran their twitching hands up and down the pillow, trying to distract themselves with the feeling of the sequins changing colors. However, it wouldn’t work.

                They threw their pillow to the side, then grabbed their headphones off of the floor. They plugged them into their phone and started up their “Calm” playlist, but that didn’t seem to work either. Everything was just too loud and too bright. Then, they got an idea. Michael had mentioned this Thomas Sanders guy before, but Jeremy had never watched his videos. They’d seen his vines, of course, but not his videos. Michael would go on about how supportive and accepting the guy was, so they figured they might as well give him a shot. They searched up his name on YouTube and saw a lot of vine compilations, but then they saw where he and his friends did a cover of “I Won’t Say I’m In Love” from _Hercules_ , mixed with a lot of other songs. They tapped on the video.

                They calmed down almost immediately. The piano was slow and the harmonies were beautiful. The songs melded together perfectly and they found themselves lost in the song. When it was over, they were calmed down, but they were also drained from the anxiety attack. They took the headphones off and unplugged them, then opened up their messaging app.

 

**_Jerryyyyy_ **

10:33 P.M.

Hey, can you tell the group chat that I might not be on for the rest of the night?

 

**_Richie Rich_ **

10:33 P.M.

sure man

you okay?

 

**_Jerryyyyy_ **

10:33 P.M.

Just…please?

 

**_Richie Rich_ **

10:34 P.M.

okey dokey

goodnight bye man

 

**_Jerryyyyy_ **

10:34 P.M.

Goodbye.

 

                They didn’t know how they were going to last here.


	2. Long Nails Make Good Weapons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mrs. Heere goes snooping and things don't go down well for the entire family, including Michael.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warnings: Deadnaming, pronoun misusage, violence, swearing.

                A few months had passed since the gender incident between Jeremy and their mother. They still planned to tell her when they were out of there and supporting themselves, because they figured it’d be a bit confusing to just show up one day with a deeper voice and a mustache. However, that idea wouldn’t last long. Jeremy and Michael stepped into the Heere residence after school one day and immediately saw Jeremy’s mother sitting on the couch with her head in her hands.

                “Mom? What’s wrong?” Jeremy questioned, closing the door.

                “Your Tumblr account was up on the computer when you left this morning.” She lifted her head and they could tell that she had been crying.

                “D-Did you look at it?” Jeremy nearly whispered, subconsciously inching toward Michael.

                “I did. Is it true that you feel like that? That you aren’t a girl?”

                Jeremy clenched their jaw and nodded.

                “Oh, honey. Why didn’t you tell me sooner? We could’ve gotten you help.”

                “I was afraid that- help?”

                “Sweetie, you have to know that this isn’t normal. There are only two genders.”

                Michael scoffed, but Mrs. Heere paid no attention to him.

                “Mom, there’s m-more than two.”

                “No, there isn’t, Janelle.”

                “My n-name is Jeremy.”

                “Your name is Janelle! You are my little girl, and you always will be! I will get you some fucking help, and I don’t care if you don’t like it! You are obviously having some mental health issues, so it is my job as your mother to help you!” She jumped up from the couch and made her way over to the two.

                “It’s your job as my mother to accept me!”

                “I accept you as Janelle Abigail Heere, my daughter! You have always been my daughter! It’s her fault, isn’t it? She infected you and now you think that you’re…what is it? ‘Binary!?’” She quickly turned the blame on Michael.

                “Nonbinary, Mrs. Heere. I didn’t do anything. They were born this way. They don’t have a disease. They weren’t infected, and they definitely didn’t choose this. You choose to be blind and unaccepting.” Michael replied before Jeremy could say anything.

                “I want you out of my house right now, you fucking tranny. I don’t ever want to see you around my daughter again, you got that? I bet your perverted lesbo mothers accept this, but I refuse. My daughter needs help, and I’m going to see that she gets it!”

                Michael let his backpack fall onto the floor and he rolled his hoodie sleeves up, moving toward Mrs. Heere slowly. “Wow. Okay. I was trying to be a responsible person and keep my cool, but you overstepped. You can call me a tranny all day and night, but insulting my mothers is where you crossed the line. The only help that your _child_ needs is your acceptance. Jeremy is your child. Not your daughter. If you cared, you would realize that, instead of making them feel even shittier than they already do.” Michael had his right index finger pointed directly at her chest, but he wasn’t actually touching her.

                She slapped his hand away. “Are you implying that you know my daughter better than I do?”

                “Yes, I am! I know so much more about Jeremiah Aaron Heere than you do, simply because of the fact that I accept them! That’s all you have to-“

                “Don’t tell me how to parent my child, Michelle Mell!” With that, she attacked. Her fists were flying everywhere and her long nails caught Michael’s face multiple times. Michael tried his best to deflect the attacks without putting his hands on her.

                “Micah!” Jeremy tried to separate them, but their mother pushed them away into the wall. They collapsed against it, pulling their knees up to their chest and placing their head in their hands.

                The attack didn’t last very long. After a few minutes, Mr. Heere came into the house and immediately broke up the fight. “What the hell is going on!?

                “She turned our daughter into a tranny!”

                “Jeremy is your child!”

                “Her name is Janelle!”

                “No, it isn’t!”

                “Michael, tell me what happened. Tell me everything.” Mr. Heere crouched down in front of Michael, placing himself in between his wife and the boy.

                “We came home from school and she was sitting there crying. She started spouting some crazy shit about how there was something wrong with Jeremy and kept refusing to call them Jeremy. Then, she tried to blame it on me, saying that I ‘infected’ them. Called me a tranny, too, and even insulted my mothers. Then, she attacked me and pushed Jeremy!”

                “You touched me first!”

                “I pointed at you! You slapped my hand!”

                “You shouldn’t have pointed at me!”

                “Well, you sho-“

                “Stop it, you two!” Mr. Heere stood up and turned to his wife, still staying in between her and Michael. “Tell me your side.”

                “Our daughter needs help. She doesn’t think she’s a girl when she obviously is. She keeps insisting she’s this fake thing called ‘binary.’”

                “Nonbinary.” Michael corrected.

                “Shut up!” Mrs. Heere shouted.

                Mr. Heere slightly turned his head to look at Michael. “Nonbinary means?”

                “It’s an umbrella term for people whose gender isn’t strictly male or female,” Michael explained.

                “And Jan- Jeremy is nonbinary?”

                “Yes, sir, they are.”

                Mr. Heere nodded. “That sounds alright to me. I can accept that.”

                “How!? She needs help!”

                “They need our acceptance.”

                “Oh my god! I can’t believe you’re siding with those… _things_.”

                “Those ‘things’ are our child and her- their; sorry- best friend!”

                “I’m done. Absolutely done. I can’t put up with this anymore.”

                “What are you saying?”

                “I’m saying I’m leaving. If you sincerely believe that Janelle is okay in the head, then fine. You raise her.”

                “Veroni-“

                “No, I’m leaving! I’ll come back for my shit later.”

                “Veronica, wait!”

                She was already out the door. They all heard her car fire up in the driveway, then speed off. Mr. Heere stood there in the living room, pinching the bridge of his nose. Michael was still sitting behind him, trying not to hiss as the air stung his wounds. Jeremy hadn’t moved away from the wall but was sobbing heavily.

                “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!” They wailed.

                “It isn’t your fault, Jer. She’s a crazy bitch.” Michael wiped a tear out from underneath his eye and cringed when his hand came back with blood on it. Mr. Heere didn’t try to defend his wife.

                “C’mon, Jeremy. Let’s get Michael upstairs, okay? We’ll fix him up, then I’ll make dinner and we can all sit and talk about this. No violence involved.” Jeremy looked up at their dad, who was standing in front of them with a hand held out. Jeremy hesitantly took his hand and their dad lifted them up. Both of them then went over to Michael and helped him up.

                “What is the fascination with long nails?” Michael pondered, wiping more blood off of his face.

                “Good weapons, apparently.” Mr. Heere responded, getting a chuckle out of the other two.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was probably shit. Idk.

**Author's Note:**

> This is the video mentioned in the story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BenMCnRX0WU
> 
> If you didn't know already, I love Thomas Sanders. If you've never watched him, you should. He is very accepting and open-minded and his videos never fail to bring me up when I'm feeling down. (Also, he's very talented. He can act brilliantly and sing like an angel. His friends are also very talented and he loves them a lot and is very protective of them, so bless him.)


End file.
